Kids are likely to want to mimic the pseudo musical chairs device, and the story will be just as much fun to share with a...
Finding the perfect comfortable place to read can be a problem, as a young reader discovers.
“When I want to read, what I REALLY REALLY need is a place to sit.” As the black-haired, paper-white child tries out a number of chairs, in each case something is bothersome: the first one tried is “comfy” but “buzz-buzzy,” as a bee zooms by. In each scene the child sits in a different chair, but something is wrong. One is too itchy, and another is both dark and noisy. “GIANT STOMPING boots" make another setting inhospitable to reading, and a chair next to the garbage can just will not do. Seat after seat is pronounced unsuitable, until….“But wait, hang on—YES THAT’S IT! It doesn’t matter where you sit… / a book is best anywhere…a book is best when you SHARE.” Though the plot’s not much to speak of, this extended, playful reading-centered riff on “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” is enlivened by the quirky multimedia art in sophisticated, earthy colors that reflect the author/illustrator’s animation background. Busy patterns and unexpected angles make each page a seek-and-find exercise, and the child picks up a new animal friend, unmentioned in the text, in each scene. The clever page design flaunts bouncy, vigorous typefaces.
Kids are likely to want to mimic the pseudo musical chairs device, and the story will be just as much fun to share with a group as one-on-one. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68119-323-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Loewen’s story is a simple snapshot of kindergarten graduation day, and it stays true to form, with Yoshikawa’s artwork resembling photos that might be placed in an album—and the illustrations cheer, a mixed media of saturated color, remarkable depth and joyful expression. The author comfortably captures the hesitations of making the jump from kindergarten to first grade without making a fuss about it, and she makes the prospect something worth the effort. Trepidation aside, this is a reminder of how much fun kindergarten was: your own cubbyhole, the Halloween parade, losing a tooth, “the last time we’ll ever sit criss-cross applesauce together.” But there is also the fledgling’s pleasure at shucking off the past—swabbing the desks, tossing out the stubbiest crayons, taking the pictures off the wall—and surging into the future. Then there is graduation itself: donning the mortarboards, trooping into the auditorium—“Mr. Meyer starts playing a serious song on the piano. It makes me want to cry. It makes me want to march”—which will likely have a few adult readers feeling the same. (Picture book. 4-5)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7614-5807-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2011
This long-running British series (the first Little Princess book was published in 1986) has been adapted for television there. In this installment, her dad (in a jacket and tie, wearing his crown) has read her a story and is about to turn off the light when the Little Princess shouts, “I WANT MY LIGHT ON!”—with her entire face subsumed into one of those scarlet, tooth-edged mouths. She’s not afraid of the dark but of ghosts. Dad checks under the bed, and General, Admiral, Doctor and Maid assure her there are no ghosts. The Little Princess’s room is a bright yellow, but readers see glimpses of the castle’s arches and stone steps past her doorway—and then there is a little ghost behind her bedpost, with a skeleton toy the shape of Little Princess’s own stuffie. Ghost and Princess scare each other, and he dashes off to his mother, who, as she stirs her pot of frog, worm and spider stew, assures him that there are no such things as little girls.... The pictures are clear, bold and exaggerated to great humorous effect. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7613-6443-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Andersen Press USA
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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